More details on Mum and her need for a bypass....

... got some questions from some of our friends for more detail on my Mum and the need for a bypass, so thought I might as well put the details here.

About 3 - 4 weeks ago, my Mum started experiencing extremely debilitating pain on the left side of her (wait for it) NECK and SHOULDER, radiating down her left arm. She put this down to a bad attack of "gas" and starting taking medication for that. It SEEMED to help, but then the pain would return again. Finally she decided to ask about it on one of her regular visits to the hospital for her diabetes check up - and, sadly, what they told her was basically that at her age (she is a pretty young 71!) she should expect such things to happen, and they just brushed it off. Then one of her good friends, also a doctor, told her not to take any chances, since the pain was on the left side, and go do an ECG. My brother (doctor in Melaka) was trying to persuade her to get down to Melaka to do an ECG and run other tests as well, and she finally agreed, putting it off till 18th Sept. THEN, on Sunday 14th Sept, while walking back from buying bread at the neighbourhood shop, the pain came back again, SO BAD, that my Dad immediately called my brother and said he and Mum would be at Melaka on the Monday instead.

Anyway, they went, she had various tests done, and my brother was able to confirm that she has one or more blockages in the blood vessels around her heart. She was given strict instructions NOT to exert herself, and we waited till our absolute favourite cardiac surgeon (Dr. V) got back to IJN (National Heart Institute, KL) on 19th Sept, which is when he arranged for an angiogram for my Mum on 29th Sept, to be carried out by another surgeon at IJN (Dr B).

My Mum went in to IJN on 28th Sept, and went into the op theatre for the angiogram mid morning on 29th Sept (co-incidentally, that was my Dad's 75th birthday!). By the time I flew in from SG and arrived at the IJN (around noon on 29th Sept), she had already come out of the angiogram with the findings as follows:

- In one blood vessel there are THREE blocks in a row
- In another blood vessel there are TWO blocks in a row
- The surgeon COULD have pushed the balloon through to unblock the blood vessels BUT he felt that this was not the best solution, and he asked my Mum whether he should go ahead and unblock the vessels (and put in Stents) or whether she would prefer to go for a bypass (the 'better' long-term option).
- She could not decide, so she asked for my Dad, and after my Dad had been shown the blockages on the video screen (LIVE!!!) he said he would like to discuss the situation with my brother, my sis and I, and, of course, Dr V, so she got taken back to her room with no angioplasty done.

We had to wait till 8pm before we got to see Dr. V as he was in surgery pretty much the whole day. When he did see us, he explained that, at best, given my Mum's diabetes, stents would only work for 5 years at most. At which time she would have to go through a bypass anyway. And, at that time, she would be 5 years older and correspondingly weaker. In addition with FIVE stents at one shot, there is a higher risk that something could go wrong, whereas given my Mum's age and general good health, there would be only a 5 - 8% chance of something going wrong with a bypass. SO, his recommendation (which we all agreed with) was for the bypass.

He said he could do the bypass as soon as 6th Oct, but then, Dad asked, they are planning to celebrate their 50th (Yes, FIFTIETH) wedding anniversary on 25th Oct, and what were the chances that my Mum would be out of hospital AND well enough to attend the function by then? Dr V explained that it would be quite unlikely, so the next suggested date was 28th Oct - but then Dr V himself would be out of the country from 30th Oct for a few days and he did not feel comfortable leaving my Mum unattended so soon after the op.... So, FINALLY, the date of 3rd November was agreed.

My Mum, though she has no issue with going for the operation itself, is more worried about AFTER the operation, as she feels it will be too difficult for my Dad to look after her (she knows what she is talking about as she had to look after my Dad after he had his bypass in Nov last year!!!!). Anyway, we figured that was more manageable, and that the bypass was critical, so we will work out arrangements for someone (a nurse type person) to help her once she gets home from the op, for a period of at least 2 months.

That's it folks - the full story.... keep her in your prayers that she will come through the operation smoothly and recover fast.

Till next time... have a good life.